Hey everyone! I sure hope everyone had a great Easter Sunday. I know one things for sure.. I ate WAY too much, lol.
I will do my best to provide all details but also to keep this as short & sweet as possible, while also keeping it easy to understand.
Alright, basically.. in a nutshell, my father was going to purchase a new Glock '23' (.40-cal) for me as my birthday present this past February. Well, we end up going to a gun shop here in town and we find one that I want. At first, my father was just going to purchase the gun, since we both knew that he wouldn't have any issues getting approved being that he's a well known/respected judge here in town (now retired after 30-something years of service). So anyhow, I give the employee at the gun shop, who also happens to be the owner as well as a life-long friend of my fathers, of which who has also known me since I was about 5 years old (31 now) and he tells me that he will have an official decision for me within a week at the most.
So anyhow, 6 days go by and I get a phone call saying that I had been denied. Yep, denied. So, I immediately get onto the internet and figure out how to request the reason as to why I was denied. After inquiring/requesting the reasoning as to why I was denied for my new firearm purchase, 4 days went by and I get the official letter with the reason for my denial in the mailbox. I open it and find out that I was simple denied because they found the Misdemeanor that I have on my record. <-- pay attention if your reading this.. because this is where it can kinda get confusing and or tricky.
Alright, so no big deal really.. because I knew I had the Misdemeanor on my record. However, the reason for the denial, was because they (the FBI/NICS module) automatically figured (without doing ANY research) that my Misdemeanor charge had a sentence that 'EXCEEDED' (was more than..) one year in jail. Now, its gonna get even more tricky here.. so stay with me. Alright, so, here's the problem. The problem is, is that in the state of Arkansas, there are absolutely NO Misdemeanor charges that can be accompanied by a sentence of MORE THAN (cannot exceed) one year in jail. So, simply put.. I JUST BARELY skated past that one.. because my Misdemeanor charge had a sentence of exactly ONE year, but didn't EXCEED one year. Which, again, is why I was denied.
So, technically and legally..? I should have never been denied in the first place, period.
So anyhow, after I got the 'reason for denial' letter from the FBI/NICS section explaining the reasoning behind the denial.. my father informed me about the statute in Arkansas, which explains how there are no Misdemeanor charges in Arkansas, that can be followed with a sentence of more then/exceeding.. one year. He even looked it up in one of his law books and copied the page that explains it.
Alright, still with me here, I hope? Okay, so far.. I've gotten me letter explaining the reason for my denial of my new gun purchase. Which again, I should have never been denied. So what I did next was I went ahead and looked up on the 'NICS' website, what I would need to do next.. in order to prove to them that my Misdemeanor sentence did not exceed (was not more than) one year. I find out what all I had to do and what all information I would need to send back to them, in order to get my name cleared. I included all of my official court paperwork involving the Misdemeanor charge (which also explained/showed that my sentence was not MORE THAN one year) and I also included the copies of the pages from my fathers law book, which also clearly explains everything about the "Arkansas Misdemeanors" and how NONE of them are followed with a sentence of more then one year.
Now, I sent all that information back to them a good solid 4 to 5 weeks ago. I was wondering if anyone else has had this same problem? Anyone else from Arkansas on here that has had this same/very similar issue? My last question is, is since I should have never been denied to begin with.. should I maybe try and get in touch with the supervisor of the 'NICS' module within the FBI?? I mean, is there not a 'head person' in charge in the 'NICS' section of the FBI? I'm just wanting to speed up the process of clearing my name because I should have never been denied to begin with you know? I personally don't believe that I should have to wait the full 5 or 6 months (6 months is the 'alotted time' that they have to give me my results back) since they made the mistake and I should have never been denied to begin with.
I mean, I realize that the FBI/NICS systems are being absolutely jammed with new applications as well as CHCL applications.. and I understand that they are understaffed for what they are currently experiencing. However, they technically made the simple mistake under my application.. and I just think they should do the right thing and fix it ASAP.. especially since I went through all the trouble to make sure that they understood about the Arkansas Misdemeanor statutes. I'm not a hateful person nor am I a mean person.. but I just really think that someone up at the NICS module should have had ample time to go through the information I sent to them and fix my denial.
Any help with this is truly and greatly appreciated. A huge thanks in advance to those who help with advice and or solutions to this issue I am currently experiencing.
Thanks,
Mike
(Arkansas - GO HOGS!)
